“I…” Her voice fades. “Well, I mean I guess I didn’t know he was fine, but it had only been a couple of minutes and his stroller was still there and he was in it. Like I said, nothing looked different. I assumed everything was okay.”

“At what point did you check the strollers?”

“Once I got her settled, her friend Crystal offered to let her rest at her house. We decided to walk there since it was closer. I was the one to get the stroller.”

“When you got the stroller, nothing appeared out of place?”

“Not at all. Everything was just as we’d left it minutes before.”

“Did you pick up Jackson?”

“I didn’t.”

“Did Rebecca pick up the baby?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“We walked the very short distance to her friend’s house. I told Rebecca I would watch Jackson and I situated his stroller right by the back door.”

“Does this friend have children of her own?”

“Just a daughter, Savi. She’s older.”

“No other children?”

“No.”

“And you were with Jackson the whole time?”

“Yes.” She hesitates. “Actually, I had to take a call outside, but no one picked him up. He stayed in the stroller the entire time.”

“So no one touched Jackson from the time she fainted until the time you walked her home?”

“That’s correct.”

“What happened once Rebecca got home?”

“When we got to the front door, I—now I feel bad—but I insisted that she get some rest and that I would watch Jackson for the afternoon. I also gave her two sleeping pills so she could sleep. I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that she’d hit her head.”

“Rebecca consented to let you watch the baby? Did she feed him or pick him up once she was home?”

“No.”

“But you stayed with him here while she slept?”

“I did. All day.”

“And how did the baby seem?”

“Well, like I told Rebecca, he was really fussy. Normally, Jackson is easy, but he seemed agitated. He cried and he didn’t want the milk she’d left. He just seemed like maybe he didn’t feel good.”

“During this time, you didn’t register anything different in his appearance?”

She’s quiet. “People don’t switch babies. That’s not a thing that happens.”

“Just answer the question, please.”

She lets out a shaky breath. “I mean, I don’t think so. I was also trying to juggle Baxter and I was watching a show, so I wasn’t one hundred percent focused on Jackson. He just seemed a bit more work than usual.”

“Do you think the baby upstairs is someone else’s, or do you think Rebecca is mistaken?”

My heart hammers so hard against my ribs, I fear I’m going to be sick.

“She’s been through a lot.” She drops her voice so much that I strain to hear.